The Damocles Crisis
by Admiral Talbott
Summary: Imperials, Orks and Tau. Something strange is going on in the Damocles Gulf. What happens here could change the balance of power in the Galaxy.
1. Enter the Imperium

The IOMS Adamant shuddered as it took hits from multiple Ork ships. Its batteries spoke again and again, flashing the red painted craft out of the sky in a blitz of steel and light. But they kept coming. An Ork Rok cam up beneath the Mars class Battlecruiser, it's crudely made guns cutting deep furrows in the adamatium hull. An Ork Kroozer made it past the bomber squadrons harrying it and came up along the starboard side of the ship, using the precious few seconds it had to launch boarding pods before succumbing to the Adamant's dorsal lance battery.

The maneuvering rockets on the top of the Adamant's bow fired, bringing the massive nova cannon on the prow in line with the Rok. But before it could fire, a volley of torpedoes slammed into the ship, taking most of the bow with them. The bridge took a hit from a heavy shell, and most of the officers died in a cataclysmic rain of shrapnel.

Lord Admiral Gaius Talbot made two moves before darkness claimed him. He staggered to the helmsman's console and pushed the master throttle as far forward as it would go.

The IOMS Adamant's engine tubes lit for the last time as the ship, still lined up with the Ork Rok, accelerated to a velocity of .75c. Space lit with a massive explosion of light and radiation as the shredded bow of the Adamant pierced the Rok like a spear. They hung for a second, locked together in some kind of carnal embrace, before being consumed by secondary explosions.

The Lord Admiral woke in an escape pod. He looked around for a second, panicking. All he could see out the pod window was debris and vacuum frozen bodies. He looked to the pod's simple servitor brain. The red light on the control panel was winking madly, indicating that the emergency beacon was on.

_Someone must have dragged me to the pod before the ship hit. They couldn't get away in time. They died for the Emperor. Like the rest of my crew. 2 million, snuffed out in an instant doing the Emperor's work. They will be remembered._

The pod went dark as a huge shape slid over it, blocking out the rays from the systems yellow sun. Gaius could see the flare of retros firing as the shape braked to a stop above him. The pod shuddered as boarding lances slammed into it, drawing it up into the cavernous docking bay.

Gaius gripped the hilt of his power saber and braced himself to attack as the pod door was opened. The door opened with a hiss, and he flung himself through the breach, pulling the saber and activating the power field in one smooth motion. A cry escaped his lips, bestial and desperate.

"FOR THE EMPEROR!" he screamed, lunging at the nearest shape. He slashed downwards with the saber. It impacted against another power weapon. The blades flared with a discharge of energy and Gaius was flung back, only to catch a lasgun stock to the back of the head.

As he left consciousness for the second time that day, he saw flak-armored forms leaning over his prostrate body. The last thing he saw before losing consciousness again was the flash of a silver Aquilla on the uniform of the man he had charged. _Did I attack my rescuers? _He thought. Then the darkness claimed him.


	2. Enter the Tau

The reconnaissance drone from the Tau ship _Kor'O T'olku _watched the Imperial ships engage and annihilate the Ork flotilla from several hundred thousand kilometers away. At that range, risk of detection was minimal, but the drone still had its self-destruct package armed in case of an unlucky detection. It kept up a constant stream of chatter with the _Kor'O T'olku_, making sure they got every second of the battle. Its job done, the drone's secondary programming kicked in. The charge mounted in its hull detonated, atomizing the small robotic unit and sending its congruent atoms whizzing through space.

If one followed the data stream sent by the drone to its terminus, they would find a mostly empty solar system; for other than a moon colony and its attendant fleetbase, the system was dead. At the very end of the data stream sat the Hero class cruiser _Kor'O T'olku_. It was a sleek and beautiful ship even for the Tau, its long, graceful and curving lines making it look as if it would be more at home in water than in the airless void of space. It was close to three kilometer long, and its graceful curving wings stretched out for several hundred meters to each side.

But, as was the Tau custom, this beautiful ship was also a deadly hunter. The ship's curving wings were lined with the long barrels of multipurpose railguns, and a cluster of Ion cannon turrets were clutched near the base of the wing where it met the ship. The dorsal and ventral surfaces of the ship were lined with Railgun and Ion cannon turrets and a pair of hangar bays were nestled between the rear edge of the wings and the engine tubes. The bow of the ship was sleek and bare of weaponry, other than a handful of point defense burst cannons and missile launchers. The muzzle of the massive spinal railgun peeked out from its armor plating, retracted now that it was not in use.

The signal from the drone was picked up by one of the ship's main antennae and sent racing into the ship's AI mainframe. It dutifully catalogued and stored the readings, and alerted the bridge.

On the bridge, the alert was received by a young Kor'la crewman, who dispatched a small message drone to deliver the information to the Kor'O of the vessel.

The drone found the commander of the ship in a meeting with the 3 other caste leaders on board. Fio'O Ba'kral, leader of the Earth Caste Contingent on board, Por'vre Al'uun, the head Water Caste diplomat and one of the few females on board, Shas'vre J'kaara, commandant of the ships' two fire caste cadres, and the Kor'O himself, a tall Tau named Kry'aal Y'eldi. It flew straight to the commander and flashed an annoying "urgent" light at him.

He took a glance at the information the small drone displayed and turned to his colleagues.

"Well, Comrades, it would appear that the Imperials have solved our Ork problem for us. A Cruiser squadron smashed the Rok and its escorts about 4 hours ago. They lost a pair of their "Cobra" class frigates and a much larger ship. "Mars" class, if I'm reading this mass/energy graph correctly. Quite a show, if you care for the visuals. They lost the Mars in a ramming attack on the Rok itself. Their main squadron seems to be withdrawing to their fleetbase at Alachar V. They've left three squadrons of lighter ships behind. They're speccing out as scouts. That could be a problem."

Fio'O Ba'kral shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Kor'O, I don't think I have to tell you the importance of our work here. If the Imperials find us…"

"They will undoubtedly come after us." Shas'vre J'kaara interrupted. "That is why my Firewarriors have been busy setting up defenses for the facility. This ship brought 40 Anti-Orbital Ion Cannons in its cargo Bays, and we've got almost half of them deployed."

"Don't forget you've got the _Kor'O T'olku, _the fleetbase and4 Orca class Destroyers as a defensive force." The Kor'O added. "We also usually have a few Merchant or Emissary class ships coming and going every week. Your facility is as safe as we can make it, Fio'O. I promise you that."

"Alright, I believe you, Kry'aal. I just don't need any distractions. Its hard enough as it is to run this facility without Gue'la shooting at me!"


	3. Taking Command

Gaius regained consciousness slowly. His head was a throbbing knot of pain and his right arm ached under the bandage. He hadn't even noticed the wound until now.

_Bandage? What... Where am I?_ He thought, trying to piece together his memories. _The Orks, that Rok, the bridge got hit. God- Emperor, I lost the Adamant! 100,000 souls extinguished in His service. So where am I now?_

He opened his eyes and looked around. He was in a Spartan cell of indeterminate design, its walls crafted of featureless gray metal. The only decorations were a small table, upon which lay his weapons and armor, and a double-headed Imperial Eagle inscribed above the door.

He tried to sit up and got a flash of pain in his head for the trouble.

The doors opened with a hiss and a lightly augmented man holding a data slate and wearing the white robes of an apothecarion stepped through.

"Lord-Admiral Gaius Talbot?" he asked, as if there were more than one patient in the room. "Can you understand me, my lord?

"Yes, warp take you!" Gaius grunted, his head throbbing from the seemingly loud noise. "Speak more softly! Where in the Emperor's name am I?"

"The good ship _Michelangelo_, my lord. Captain Alland has been waiting to meet with you. I'm going to inject you with a drug that should do wonders for that headache. You're not allergic to eggs, are you?"

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"Captain Alland, it's been too long."

"Lord-Admiral Talbot! It's a pleasure to have you on board. I was relieved to hear that you escaped the death of the _Adamant_."

Captain Alland was a fairly young man by Imperial standards. His face, however, betrayed the long years of service he had given to the Imperium. A long scar ran down the side of his face where a piece of flying shrapnel had struck many years ago, and an artificial eye clicked as it focused on Gaius.

"Yes, I was lucky to escape. Tell me, have you been fortunate enough to recover any other pods?"

"Yes, Emperor be praised! Some of the hangar deck crew escaped in shuttles, and we recovered the remainder of your fighters. They're being reassigned as we speak."

"Damn." Gaius muttered. "We lost a lot of good men today, captain. Tell me it was worth it."

"Indeed it was, Lord-Admiral. The destruction of the Rok splintered the Ork fleet. It was easy enough for us to mop them up. A few smaller ships and a Cruiser sized Hulk escaped. We've leaving behind a small force to hunt them down."

"The Orks owe me and the crew of the _Adamant_ a blood-debt, Captain. I'll be taking command of this force. What have I got to play with?"

"We're leaving two squadrons of Cobras, a squadron of Swords and a Militarized ex Rogue Trader Cruiser, the _Fist of Profit_."

"An ex-civilian vessel?" Gaius asked, incredulous. "How does she stack up?"

"She's faster and more agile than a Dauntless and carries equivalent armaments and shielding." Captain Alland replied.

"Well then, I'll shuttle over within the hour."

"Very good, Lord Admiral. I'll make the arrangements myself."


End file.
